1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing a sample containing water by micro-manipulator under a scanning electron microscope and an apparatus thereof, and more particularly, to such a sample treatment method under a scanning electron microscope in which a raw sample containing water is cut while being observed by a scanning electron microscope to extract useful fragments from the sample and an apparatus thereof.
2. Prior Art
In recent applications of the biology, it is desirable to develop the technique for use in various studies in which minute useful fragments are extracted from a raw sample to culture them. For example, hyphae are extracted from a certain species of fungi attached to a plant and a high degree of analysis is made to the hyphae, or hyphae are extracted from a certain species of mold and hyphae are cultured.
Since useful fragments extracted from the sample such as fungi are very minute, it is necessary to use an electron microscope in order to observe the fragments. Operation required for conventional studies of this kind include cutting, for example, a plant containing fungi at random or sectioning thinly the plant, observing the cut segments by a scanning electron microscope and/or a transmission electron microscope and searching the segments for useful fragments to be extracted. In such a conventional manner, however, it must be waited that useful fragments, for example, hyphae are detected accidentally from the cut segments obtained from the sample cut at random. Further, even if the useful fragments are detected, it is technically difficult to extract the fragments effectively. Accordingly, the conventional observation required to extract the useful fragments from the sample is very inefficient and it is almost impossible to extract many minute useful fragments, for example, hyphae from the sample such as a plant constantly. Therefore, in the serious study of the biology applications, the scanning electron microscope can not be sufficiently utilized for operation, for example, extraction of part of the sample other than observation. The similar problem exists in operation of extracting minute segments from high molecules in the state containing water or solvent.